Just the Beginning
by Louey06
Summary: How did Hermone end up walking Neville around the train in first year looking for Trevor? Read here to see how Hermione's first ride to Hogwarts went.


**AN: This is just a little ficlet about Hermione first train ride. I thought of it and just wanted to write it down and make myself a new oneshot. For all the readers of my story 'Bookworms'..." out there please note I am working on it, I've just been busy with other stuff. For now enjoy this, be warned there is some bullying in it but no violence, just name-calling. Hope you enjoy and leave me a review!**

**Disclaimer: None of the character in this belong to me1 They are all the works of JK Rowling, the godess- like creature that walks our earth.**

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><p>Hermione Granger could barely contain her excitement.<p>

Only a few short weeks earlier she had received a very special letter from an exclusive boarding school. A wizarding boarding school, Hogwarts. She had never heard of witches or wizards before that day and had no idea that she was one. Now she was heading off to her new school.

The children at her old school had never understood her, constantly teasing her for the amount of time she spent with a book. But how could she not? Books were wonderful, they let her escape to new realms, learn new things, and do anything she had ever wanted to do. And yet the other children still giggled behind their hands about her and refused to sit next to her at the lunch table.

But everything was about to change. She now knew why she had never fit in. It was because those other children were, what was the word? Muggles. And Hermione wasn't a muggle,_ she_ had magic. The witches and wizards at Hogwarts would be just like her; no doubt she'd be more popular than anyone she'd ever known.

So Hermione ran through the barrier of platform nine and ten as though her life depended on it. She stared at up at the majestic, scarlet, steam engine, eyes glowing with excitement.

"This is it mum!" She said excitedly, her voice radiating enthusiasm, "I'm off to school!"

Mrs. Granger looked nervously about the platform, covered in people, a whole clan of redheads was talking boisterously nearby, others were shouting and shooting spouts of colored light from those sticks of wood that Hermione had said were wands, Mrs. Granger was still unsure about that. "Are you absolutely positive you want to do this Hermione?"

"For the thousandth time yes." Hermione replied. "You promised I could go mum. You said I could!"

"I know, but there_ is_ a lovely secondary school just by our house." Mrs. Granger said desperately, anything to keep her daughter out of all this magic business.

"Anne, we said that Hermione could choose what she wanted and she choose this." Mr. Granger stepped in. "They'll be no more discussion."

Hermione beamed at her father, "thanks dad!"

"Do be careful though Hermione," he said smiling at his little girl, "and write often."

"What is this rubbish about no telephones?" Mrs. Granger said, "How will I go for an entire semester without hearing your voice?"

"Mum, telephones don't work there; I read about it in _Hogwarts, A History_, it's all to do with the magic. But anyway, I'll be fine and so will you. There is nothing to worry about, and I will write you loads. I'll use one of the school owls and post you every day."

"You had better." Mrs. Granger said tearfully. She suddenly pulled Hermione into a great hug, "I just can't bear to see you leave."

Hermione pried herself from her mother's arms, "I'll be home for Christmas, I have to get on the train now."

Mr. Granger held his arms out for a hug of his own and Hermione buried herself in his grasp, "I'll miss you daddy."

"As I'll miss you, it's like you'll told your mum, you'll be fine. I expect to see some of this magic when you get home, want to make sure this is all real."

"I'm pretty sure it isn't a joke," Hermione said as she watched a boy walk by with a trunk hovering several centimeters of the ground in front of him.

"Be good at school darling." Mrs. Granger said, holding back her tears.

"Yes, mum." Hermione sighed with an air of defeat, "I'll write you soon as I can!"

"We expect nothing less." Mr. Granger said.

Hermione smiled at the both of them as she pulled her trunk behind her onto the waiting train, it took her a moment to maneuver the thing onto the train with her, but in the end she stood at the door waving as the train heaved to a start.

Her parents waved as the train slowly ambled out of the station, a little redheaded girl was seen chasing after it, going between tears and laughter until the train was no more than smoke in the distance.

"Will she be alright?" Mrs. Granger asked as they stared after the train, while other families began bustling from the platform.

"This is Hermione Granger you are talking about," Mr. Granger replied taking his wife's hand and leading her towards that magical brick wall, "She can do anything."

Hermione stood excitedly on the train, watching her parents disappear with the wisps of smoke trailing behind the steam engine. For a moment she could do nothing but revel in the freedom coursing through her. Once she'd come to her senses she retreated down the corridor to look for an open seat.

She peered nervously into several compartments, seeing them full with older children laughing and chatting amiably. She finally came to a compartment that had a seat open with three girls who looked about her own age. Taking a deep breath, she pulled open the door and carefully walked in.

Within the compartment sat three girls, two of them were completely identical, both had the same shade of browned skin and dark hair plaited in identical braids. The third girl had a lighter complexion with light brown hair fluffed into curls around her face. The three of them all looked over as Hermione walked in.

"Err, hello," she said timidly, "could I sit here?"

The girls appraised her, Hermione felt especially self conscious of her bushy hair and large teeth, and nervously fidgeted while the girls deliberated.

"I suppose, " said the fair haired girl, "is that all right?" she addressed her fellows, they both nodded and Hermione heaved a sigh of relief and set about putting her trunk above the seat.

"I'm Hermione Granger." She said sitting down on the open seat near the door.

"I'm Lavender Brown." The fair girl said, still staring at Hermione as though x-raying her.

"Parvati Patil and this is my sister Padma." said one of the twins.

Hermione smiled amiably at all of them before an awkward sort of silence enveloped them Hermione fiddled with her hair as Lavender stared out the window at the rolling countryside.

"So," Hermione said breaking the silence, "are you all from wizarding families?"

"We are, "said the twin that Hermione was fairly sure was Padma, "Our mum and dad met at Hogwarts, they were both Ravenclaws."

"I've read about Ravenclaw!" Hermione said excitedly, relieved she had read about wizardry, "It's one of the houses; its members are those who have great intelligence, creativity, and wit."

The other girls stared at her as though she were insane, "Yes..." Parvati said slowly.

"I think that would be a nice house to be in. There's nothing wrong with being intelligent, of course the other houses sound fine too. It's a shame Slytherin has made such a terrible name for itself with You-Know-who and all, being cunning really is a good quality. Not that I'd want to be in Slytherin of course, I really think Gryffindor is the best house, wouldn't you agree?"

"I suppose." Lavender said, rather surprised that Hermione had stopped talking.

"Are your family wizards?" Hermione asked Lavender.

"My mum is a witch but my father is muggle, makes me a half-blood."

"My parents are both muggles. They're dentists; I grew up just outside of London. Went to primary school there, never imagined I was a witch. Well, I always stuck out a little bit but I never thought I had any sort of special abilities or anything. I was so happy when I got my letter, I knew I'd found somewhere to belong and make new friends and all that. My mum wasn't too keen on the idea but my dad let me pick what I wanted to do and I obviously picked Hogwarts. Who wouldn't though? Going off to learn about magic and discover things you never even imagined about, it's wonderful." Hermione sighed happily.

The other girls were all just staring at her, looking almost worried about her mental stability. Hermione continued on with her ranting, happily oblivious to the amuse looks her comrades were sending each other as they held back giggles.

" –so I just kept on going not really minding about the other children, my dad always says to be yourself no matter what. I of course always listened." Hermione rambled nearly half an hour later. Neither Lavender nor the twins had gotten in more then a word or two since the beginning of Hermione's spiel and they were getting rather annoyed with her.

A gentle knocking came at the door and it slid open to reveal a smiling woman pushing a small cart full of snacks. "Anything off the trolley dears?" She asked sweetly.

"Can I have a chocolate frog and a cauldron cake, please?" Lavender said, glad that something had finally cutoff Hermione's ranting.

Padma and Parvati requested several pumpkin pasties and Hermione just examined the cart, not sure what was good and what wasn't. Not entirely sure it was wise she bought a bag of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.

For a short time all was quiet as the girls indulged in their snacks, Hermione was quite proud of herself for making friends' so quickly. She'd known that everyone at Hogwarts would understand her. These girls seemed so intent upon what she had to say! It really was wonderful.

Unfortunately, nature called to Hermione and she had to excuse herself to use the loo for a moment. She came back smiling, ready to once again engage herself in conversation. When she approached the door she heard giggling from within and stopped a moment to hear what the others were saying before she returned.

"-and she just kept going!" Hermione heard Lavender saying as the Patils giggled, " _'I've read this,' 'I know all about that,' 'my dad always told me,_' " She continued in a high voice, "honestly does she think I care about her entire life story?"

Hermione could almost see the smirks adorning their faces, "Did you see her hair?" Parvati asked, "what did she do attack it with a curling iron?"

"And her teeth!" Padma added giggling derisively, "She looks like she's part beaver."

The three of them dissolved into fits of giggles as Hermione stood outside the door. She put her hand up to her mouth to see if they were as large as Padma made them out to be, to Hermione they seemed ten times longer than they ever had before. And she pressed flat on her hair trying to calm it with her fingers to no avail.

She heard their cruel mocks ringing in her ears and she could barely stand to walk in again to sit down. But she had no other choice. She took a deep breath and wiped the newly formed tears from her eyes. She set her head high and purposefully opened the door, head high and greeted her 'friends'. "Hello."

The girls immediately stopped laughing, "Oh, erm, hello Hermione." Parvati said, a fake smile plastered on her face.

"What was so funny?" Hermione asked coolly and she sat down at her seat.

The three girls looked stricken for a moment, "Oh nothing," Lavender said quickly, "just talking is all."

"I see," Hermione said, "I was thinking I ought to put my robes on, don't want to show up at Hogwarts as a muggle do I?"

"Definitely not." Padma agreed, suppressing a giggle behind her hand. The four of them all put on their robes, Padma, Parvati, and Lavender occasionally breaking out into random giggles then insisting nothing was funny. Hermione stayed deathly silent, not wanting to make any larger of a fool out of herself.

Lavender and the Patils soon got into a conversation about which Quidditch stars were cutest as soon as they were sure Hermione would not begin another rant. Hermione nearly cried in relief as their compartment door was once again slid open.

A small boy with a round face and eyes full of tears stood in the doorway, "H-have any of you seen my toad?" The boy sniffled.

"A toad?" Lavender said disgustedly, "no, why on earth do you want one?"

"I'll never find him." The boy moaned.

"I'll help you if you'd like." Hermione volunteered, not only would she being doing something nice, she could get away from these girls.

"Would you?" He asked hopefully, his head raising from the slumped position it had fallen into.

"Of course," Hermione said, standing quickly, "I'm Hermione Granger."

"Neville Longbottom." The boy said, holding out his hand.

Hermione took it warmly, "You don't mind do you?" Hermione said turning to the girls of the compartment, she knew they wouldn't but had to be polite anyway.

"No." The three said emphatically, "you should help Neville." Padma insisted.

"Then let's go Neville." Hermione said, guiding him out of the compartment.

"Thank you for helping me, " Neville said as they started walking down the corridor, being jolted slightly by the movement of the train. "You didn't have to, I mean, I'm sure you'd rather be gossiping with those girls."

"I assure you I would not." Hermione said, "They're terrible girls, very mean. So thank _you_ for getting me out of there."

"You're welcome I suppose," Neville said with a timid smile.

"So what does your toad look like?" Hermione asked.

Neville screwed up his face in though, "like a toad I 'spose. He's about this big," he illustrated the size by cupping his hands into the size of a large tennis ball perhaps. "His name is Trevor; my uncle gave him to me when I got my Hogwarts letter."

"How have you been looking for him? Just asking people?" Hermione questioned.

"Yes, mostly." Neville affirmed, "I was too shy to go into the older students' compartments though."

"Let's start with them then." Hermione said approaching a door to a compartment absolutely packed with students. Many of them appeared to about thirteen but some seemed older.

"Not that one," Neville said frantically, "There are so many people!"

"So one must know where Trevor is.' Hermione reasoned pushing open the door despite Neville's protests.

"Excuse me!" She said over the loud voices that filled the compartment. In the middle of the compartment was a tall boy with dreadlocks who was flanked on either side by identical redheads. No one payed much attention to Hermione as they all started excitedly at the box sitting in the lap of the tall boy, "EXCUSE ME!" she shouted, finally procuring their attention.

"Can we help you miss?" One of the red headed twins asked.

"Yes actually, have anyone seen a toad? My friend Neville has lost his." She said gesturing to Neville who was all but cowering behind her.

"A toad?" The other twin said, "No toad here, but we have a tarantula, want to see?" He asked eagerly gesturing towards the box.

"No thank you." Hermione declined, "Please keep an eye out for the toad though."

"Will do." The second twin saluted her.

Hermione and Neville backed out of the compartment, shoving slightly to get through the mass of people.

The two of them continued on their quest for several minutes, going in and out of compartments, being sneered at by Slytherins and consoled by friendly Hufflepuffs. "We will find him Neville. Let's try here." She said, peering into a compartment with two boys inside, one redheaded and the other with dark black hair.

"I've already asked them." Neville said.

"Ohh, but look!" Hermione said excitedly, "One's doing magic! Let's go look." She said pulling Neville with her as she pushed open the compartment door.

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><p><strong>AN: And thus the Golden trio was born! Not really, but they meet anyhow. hope you liked it. Did you notice all the hints of other characters i had in there? Probably not, but they made me happy. I'd love on eof those reviews if you'd spare a moment. So please press the pretty button and review!<strong>


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